Frederick Warne was founded in 1865 and replaced an earlier association between Warne and George Routledge, who also went on to found his own publishing company.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, Warne's firm built a reputation based upon its children's list, publishing illustrated books by well-known authors. Warne was among the six publishers to whom Beatrix Potter submitted her first book, the story of a rabbit called Peter. Thus began a forty-year partnership that saw the publication of twenty-two additional Little Books and the development of a flourishing merchandising program, the first of its kind based on a children's book.
Over the years, Warne also expanded its nonfiction publishing, issuing among others the world-famous Observer books, and the Wayside and Woodland series which dealt in depth with a range of plant and animal groups, most notably insects. Both series are now highly collectable.
In 1983, Frederick Warne was acquired by Penguin books. As a division of Penguin, it began developing classic book-based children's character brands.